“Silver nanowires”, which are fine silver particles having a linear shape, are expected as a conductive filler for imparting conductivity to a transparent resin. Silver nanowires mixed in a resin form a conductive network through contact thereof with each other, and thereby the use of a transparent resin can realize a transparent conductor that achieves both transparency and conductivity. For a transparent conductive material, a metal oxide film represented by ITO has been mainly used for such purposes as a transparent electrode and the like. However, a metal oxide film has defects including the high film forming cost, the low resistance to bending, which may prevent the final product becoming flexible, and the like. A transparent conductor using silver nanowires as a conductive filler overcomes the defects that are peculiar to a metal oxide film.
A known production method of silver nanowires include a method of dissolving a silver compound in a polyol solvent, such as ethylene glycol, and precipitating silver particles having a linear shape by utilizing the reduction power of the polyol as the solvent in the presence of a halogen compound and PVP (polyvinylpyrrolidone) as a protective agent (PTLs 1 and 2 and NPL 1).